elite

/əˈlit/

/ɛˈlit/

Other forms: elites

The elite are the group thought to be the best and having the highest status. In the middle ages, only elite men were taught to read and write.

There are elite schools, elite teams, and elite players, some really the best and some just calling themselves the best. Who can join the basketball elite besides LeBron James and Michael Jordan? That's a matter of opinion. Elite is used with a singular or plural verb, depending on whether these special people are considered together as a group or as individual members of a group.

Definitions of elite

1. noun

   a group or class of persons enjoying superior intellectual or social or economic status
   synonyms: elite group

   types:

   chosen, elect

   an exclusive group of people

   cream, pick

   the best people or things in a group

   clerisy, intelligentsia

   an educated and intellectual elite

   beau monde, bon ton, high society, smart set, society

   the fashionable elite

   few

   a small elite group

   aristocracy, nobility

   a privileged class holding hereditary titles

   culturati

   people interested in culture and cultural activities

   literati

   well-educated people who are interested in books

   noblesse

   members of the nobility (especially of the French nobility)

   baronage, peerage

   the peers of a kingdom considered as a group

   baronetage

   the collective body of baronets

   knighthood

   aristocrats holding the rank of knight

   samurai

   feudal Japanese military aristocracy

   type of:

   upper class, upper crust

   the class occupying the highest position in the social hierarchy
2. adjective

   selected as the best
   “elite colleges”

   synonyms: elect

   selected

   chosen in preference to another